The shootings on Friday,
12/14/2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School and all the mass shooting that have
occurred leading to up to Friday, have been devastating, words can’t even
explain the pain and evil. They have affected so many people, If not personally,
then emotionally. It is unimaginable that someone could ever kill, especially
innocent children and in some cases their own parents, or anyone for that
matter.
In days after the
shootings I have seen conversations, theories and new talk about what needs to
be looked at and done to ensure this never happens again. I personally was
involved in an emotional debate defending mental illness. Which seems to be a
hot topic after a blog was posted from a mother perspective whose child suffers
from a severe case that the doctors have been unable to diagnose. The blog post
titled I am Adam Lanza's Mother, by Liza Long.
After engaging in the
thread, defending mental health and those who suffer from it (the conversation
was actually was very civilized and we were both able to see where each side
was coming from, it was educational on both ends). I received a lot of private
messages that were extremely rude and hateful. Prior and after the conversation
I was seeing a lot of conversations taking place everywhere and many people
don’t understand why this issue is painful and close to my heart. It is
frustrating for me to see all the misinformation, ignorance and stigmas that
people still place on mental illness. Believing that people suffering from a
mental illness are all placed under 1 umbrella - harmful, crazy, and
just like the horrible people that committed these crimes.
Then of course there has been the gun debate. We see it every time
something horrible happens. People from both sides getting in heated arguments,
posting pictures and so on. I wanted to share what I saw when I opened my
email, this was to my sent to my personal email, but I was still shocked at the
bluntness of the first sentence -”After the shooter Adam Lanza, no one is
more to blame for the massacre of 20 first graders and six adults (not
including 2 others, the mother of Adam Lanza and Adam Lanza who
shot himself) at the Sandy Hook Elementary School than the National
Rifle Association. In order to stop the senseless killing we must first stop the
NRA". Now I have heard similar words after Columbine, and the
shootings at the Movie Theater in Denver and all the other shooting that have
taken place, I have to admit I am a little dizzy! There is talk of guns,
rifles, semi-automatic weapons and legislation going into place, then the
President(s) getting up on national television talking about the senseless
tragedy and vowing to put stricter gun laws into place. Yet Since the Columbine
shooting there has been no Federal legislation passed, even after the 2011
shootings of AZ Rep Gabrielle Giffords. However Congress did pass a law
tightening restrictions on gun ownership, in 2007 following the mass shooting
at Virginia Tech, In addition the federal screening database would be expanded
for potential gun purchasers to include more than 2 million individuals who are
barred from owning them (guns) due to felonies or mental illness. (The down
side there is not enough money to perform background checks…) Before this
several mass shootings occurred in the 1980’s and early 90’ prompting congress
to pass a ban on assault rifles in 1994, unfortunately that ban expired in
2004. Of course congress has been trying to get it re-instated, without
success. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif is working on a new version of the ban
on assault rifles, with some extra provisions, it is planned to be introduced
in January 2013. Will it pass? Maybe. With the recent shootings there is more
hope that tighter restrictions on assault weapons will be put into place, thus
far all legislation has failed to pass any new laws despite the promises of the
Presidents and congress who have vowed to do so after every tragic shooting.
People strongly believe that guns are the major factor in the mass shootings
that have occurred. This brings me to something I would like to address next.
The one thing I
have not heard people say is - I blame Adam Lanza,
James Holmes, Jared Loughner, Seung-Hui Cho, Eric Harris, and Dylan
Kelbold. Why Not, after all they were the shooters;
they were the ones that committed the crimes. Why are we not holding them
accountable? Why is there not more conversation about their guilt and their
clear center role in pulling the trigger? No one talks about the person behind
the gun, just the gun itself. Also, why is it that we don’t know much about the
shooters past? Sure, the media reports they had issues, or how they obtained
the guns – feeding into the frenzy of people’s emotions. After that little is
revealed unless you do some research, or listen to more detailed accounts. So I
would you think about this - Eric Harris and Dylan Kelbold (Columbine), had
their massacre planned for a year, not a spontaneous act. They knew exactly
what they were doing and how. They had made and tested bombs to ensure they
would work, went target practice shooting and had a map of the school.
Eric had a diary he kept detailing his plans, and both made a videos to
the countdown of April 20, 1999, the massacre. They had no intention of coming
out of that school alive. James Holmes (Aurora Theater) also had his
shooting planed, his apartment was set up with so many bombs, and trip wires it
took the police and bomb squad days to dismantle and get in. He had music
playing that was timed to shut off at a certain time. He too had bought guns in
advance. Police found letters indicating Jared Loughner had planned on shooting
Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, he had met her in 2007, 4 years
earlier! Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech) started purchasing guns in February
and March from gun dealers, then purchasing special bullets on-line. When
police searched his dorm they found a note in which he criticized "rich
kids", "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans"
and you stated they him to do this”. He also sent a photo of the hollow
point bullets to NBC News with the caption "All the [shit]
you've given me, right back at you with hollow points." He also made a
video. Police concluded that he had planned this for months, after the shooting
had happened in April.
I am by no means saying
that gun control and mental illness are not issues we need to ignore or have a
serious discussion about; it is obvious that each of these individuals had
problems. But each of them also gave off clear warning signs and no one did
anything until it was too late. I am not going to go into a debate about gun
control or mental illness or other factors in this blog, I will say this, it is
time to start placing BLAME on the PERSONS who commit this acts,
and to stop with Complete and all of the
blame on guns, mental illness and other factors, these people clearly knew what
they were doing. When I saw the threads the last few days there were more
conversations and pictures about - guns killing more people, protecting our 2nd
amendment rights, mental illness, blaming parents and so on, and here and there
were picture’s about the victims and remembering them. It’s the
victims we need to remember. If we must talk about
the issues that are behind the persons that commit these crimes, let’s talk
about the education of gun control and mental illness. I hate to say it but
none of these issues are going away, and as much as we don’t want this, it is
likely this will happen again. The best we can do is start educating people, on
both gun control and mental illness. Yes some stricter laws are needed, but guns
will be around regardless, people will still get guns. We as a society
need to educate those around us on gun control and safety and then we need
start helping people understand mental illness so people can get over their
ignorance and stigma’s and realize not everyone suffering from a mental health
issues are a danger to society. It’s not about taking guns away or locking
people up with mental illness, it’s about helping those with problems and
learning to recognize the signs of danger, reporting it, and taking the reports
seriously. Regardless of the report, it is better to be safe than sorry. This
is what failed in almost every situation in all of the shooters talked about
above.
As of this morning 12/23/2012, the NRA has re-affirmed their
statement from Friday. Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA spoke stating that arming
schools and placing guards at schools was going to cut down on shootings. I am
still not sure how I feel about arming teachers. LaPierre did also state that
it is the criminals we need to look at, and we need to keep them off the
street, also repeating getting the mentally unstable the help they
need. The NRA will not support any new gun legislation, stating that the
laws we have now are being enforced - Which I have to agree on that one.
However, I would like to see the assaults weapons ban go back into
force that expired back in 2004. Why there is an expiration on a law
such as that is beyond me.... So in the New Year I am curious to see how
congress and the NRA will work together. We all know that the NRA is in
the politicians pockets.. If you didn't know that, it's time you woke
up!
.
You should NEVER have
to defend who you are and your beliefs because
of the acts of someone whose has crossed a threshold that most of us have never
imagined (to commit these heinous crimes) and lose your friends in the process.
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment